The instant invention is related to the use of small particle size dibasic magnesium hypochlorite as a bleaching agent in a particulate detergent composition. The composition shows greater cleaning performance due to the presence of the bleaching agent containing more available chlorine than conventional hypochlorite bleaching agents and having good solubility characteristics.
Hypochlorites have been used as bleaching agents for a long period of time. Hypochlorite ion, when free and available in solution, provides good cleaning performance. A problem existed in finding a hypochlorite material which had more than 50% available chlorine while maintaining prolonged stability. In the prior art, calcium hypochlorite had become the preferred hypochlorite even though its stability was not good when mixed with a particulate detergent composition. Also it is known to produce pinholes in fabrics.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,582,265, issued June 1, 1971 to Bishop et al., assigned to Olin Corporation, discloses a novel process for the production of dibasic magnesium hypochlorite and claims the compound. The Bishop et al. patent discloses that dibasic magnesium hypochlorite is a good bleaching agent but does not disclose the extent to which the release and rate of release of hypochlorite ions in solution depend on the size of the initial particles.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide the critical parameters of particle size needed to make dibasic magnesium hypochlorite an effective bleaching agent in particulate detergent compositions.
The way in which this object is achieved will become apparent from the following disclosure.
All percentages, parts, and ratios used herein are by weight unless otherwise specified.